Global Spectrum Series

Speaker Biographies

Please see below a list of those who spoke at the 2nd Annual Latin American Spectrum Management Conference

Speakers

Oscar Leon

Oscar Leon

Executive Secretary, CITEL

 

Oscar has over 18 years experience in the ICT sector, has extensive experience in project management and implementation of new business and appropriation of new technologies. He is an Electronic Engineer Graduate Telecommunications Project Management and Master in Business Administration.

He was Director of Projects Solutions Providers of MICROSOFT, he worked in the Colombian telecoms regulator, was Manager Regulatory Claro (America Movil COLOMBIA) has advised three Ministers of Communications. He was Director General of the National Spectrum Agency of Colombia for nearly five years and was elected Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission since September 2015.

The engineer Oscar Leon has been an international speaker in the development of wireless broadband services. The areas covered include both electromagnetic fields and their relationship to human health, spectrum auctions, and strategy for developing countries

He has been awarded:
1. Medal of Merit First Class Communications gold for his contribution to the development of ICT in Colombia.
2. The Medal of Merit Communications - third class in bronze by the excellent results in the spectrum auction for the fourth mobile generation.
3. San Gabriel Military Medal for supporting the military communications service.
4. Appointed by the International Telecommunication Union for the Americas as Vice President of Group
5 - Environment and Climate Change, which studies the relationship between radio and health fields.

Hector  Bude

Hector Bude

Chairman, WG for preparation of WRC-15, CITEL

 

Hector Bude De Leon studied Electronics at Domingo Savio, a Salesian Institute in Montevideo and Engineering in the University of the Republic (UDELAR).

He has developed his work in the field of administration and management of the radio spectrum since 1991 when he joined the National Communications Authority (DNC), which in 2001 became the actual Communications Regulatory Agency (URSEC) of Uruguay.

For nearly two decades he was the Head of Radio Frequencies and today he is the Head of the Frequency Management Department and also is one the members of the Management Committee of URSEC.

Within the PCC.II of CITEL (Inter American Telecommunication Commission) he has been y several positions, including Vice-Chairman for the period 2010-2013 and Vice-Chairman of the Working Group for the Preparation for the Regional and World Radiocommunication Conference for the period 2008-2011.

Today he is the Vice-Chairman of PCC.II for the period 2014-2018 and the Chairman of the Working Group for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference.

Luis Fernando Lopez

Luis Fernando Lopez

General Director for Digital Inclusion of the Viceministry of Communications Undersecretary of Communications, Secretariat of Communications and Transportation

 


Luis Fernando Lopez is in charge of planning, designing and managing universal digital inclusion and connectivity projects at the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation. As well, he is part of the team that leads the Project of the wholesale (shared) network in the 700 Mhz band. He holds a bachelor in telecommunications as well as a masters in business intelligence.
Mr. Lopez worked as a consultant for the Federal Telecomunications Commission, in the design of public policies for regulating the telecommunicaitons market. His duties at the Secretariat include the coordination and leading the social connectivity program Mexico Conectado which ultimate goa lis to provide Broadband Internet to public sites nationwide. He also participates at the planning, and design of the wholesale (shared) network in the 700 MHz band.

Commissioner Mario  Fromow

Commissioner Mario Fromow

Commissioner, IFT

 

Mario Germán Fromow Rangel has a professional career of over 20 years of experience, both in the public and private sectors as well as in the national and international level. Mr. Fromow Rangel is an expert in public policy, regulation, and technological development of the telecommunications and broadcasting sector.

Mario Fromow Rangel holds a Master’s of Science degree in Engineering from Keio University, Japan. He also obtained a degree in Communications and Electronics Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico. Mr. Fromow Rangel has served as an Optical Communications Researcher at the Research and Technology Development laboratories of the Japanese company Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD). He was also Research Associate at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He has been a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) and the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers of Mexico.
On September 10, 2013, he was ratified by the Senate of Mexico as Commissioner of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications for the next seven years.

From April 2011 to September 2013, Mario Fromow Rangel served as General Director of Regulation “B” in the Federal Telecommunications Commission, defining regulatory policies to promote the efficient development of telecommunications infrastructure and services in Mexico. He was also Chairman of the National Consultative Committee on Telecommunications Standardization and Deputy Chairman of the Portability Technical Committee.
Mr. Fromow Rangel has been Head of Delegation, coordinating and defending Mexico's position in more than 10 meetings of CITEL, REGULATEL and APEC-TEL. He was also Delegate to the Mexico-USA High Level Consultative Commission on Telecommunications and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). He participated as Deputy Head of Delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications held on December 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he signed ad referendum the Final Acts, due to the Full Power granted by the President of the United States of Mexico.

From September 2004 to May 2007, Mario Fromow Rangel was Project Coordinator of the Vice Ministry of Communications of the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT); he participated in the development of the policy for Wireless broadband services and other applications, as well as the Convergence Agreement of Local Telephone Services and Pay Television/Audio Services.

Maximiliano  Salvadori Martinhao

Maximiliano Salvadori Martinhao

Secretary of Telecommunications , Ministry of Communications (Brazil)

 

Maximiliano Salvadori Martinhão, Secretary of Telecommunications for the Ministry of
Communications since June 2011, was born in 1971 in Campinas/SP, Brazil.

He is a Telecommunications Engineer by the National Institute of Telecommunications – INATEL and Master in Telecommunications Management by the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. He is also a Law graduate from the Institute of Superior Education of Brasília – IESB.

Before working at the Ministry, he was the General Manager of Certification and Spectrum Engineering at Anatel – the Brazilian Telecom regulating body – having also acted in other management and advisory roles in the Agency since 2005. He began his career as a Systems Planning Engineer in TELEBRÁS. Maximiliano has also acted as the representative for the Brazilian Administration in several national and international telecommunications forums.

Rodrigo Zerbone Loureiro

Rodrigo Zerbone Loureiro

Commissioner & President, Executive Group for Digital TV Transition, ANATEL

 

Rodrigo Zerbone is a lawyer, with a degree in Law from the Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil. He is a public servant in the Brazilian Federal Government, and a member of the career of Specialists in Public Policy and Government Management.

He is currently a Commissioner at the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL), having previously been Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Communications. He also held positions at the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the Competition Agency (CADE) and at the Presidency of the Republic.

Among his responsibilities as Commissioner at ANATEL, he currently holds the positions of President of the Executive Group (GIRED) in charge of overseeing the Digital TV Transition, and President of the Committee for the Rights of Users of Telecommunications Services (CDUST).

Guillermo Montenegro

Guillermo Montenegro

Director of Technologic Planification, AFTIC

 

Guillermo Montenegro is Electronic Engineer from Universidad of Buenos Aires, in this time is Director of “ICT Technological planning direction“ in AFTIC (Autoridad Federal en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones), previously was a manager of Engineering Management at CNC (Comisión Nacional de Comunicaciones) his working in regulatory area, in matters related with spectrum and telecommunications. He has participated in CITEL PPCC.I and PCC.II and ITU-R meetings. The last principal tasks was related with his participation in a propose of a new ICT national law and the technical aspect for the National spectrum auction.

Gunnar  Bedicks

Gunnar Bedicks

Technical Director, EAD

 

Speaker biography to appear here shortly...

Fabio Leite

Fabio Leite

Global Spectrum Regulatory Policy, ESOA

 

Mr. Fabio Leite holds a Master’s degree of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Telecommunications (1980). In his professional life, he has held different positions in the radiocommunica¬tions field in both public and private sectors in Brazil, in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - the United Nations agency responsible for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as well as in the global ICT industry.

Brazil
Mr. Leite worked for EMBRATEL, the Brazilian long-distance telecommunication carrier, where he was responsible for the engineering of BRAZILSAT, the first Brazilian domestic satellite system, successfully launched in 1985.
Since 1980, he participated in many ITU radiocommunication conferences and meetings as member of Brazilian delegations, responsible for technical and regulatory is¬sues. In 1986, he was has elected Vice Chairman of the ITU Radiocommunication Study Group responsible for satellite services.

ITU
His career in the ITU started in 1987 where he held several functions, such as Radiocommunication Engineer in the Space Services Depart¬ment of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), Counsellor for mobile and fixed services in the Study Group Department of BR and Project Manager of ITU’s third generation mobile communications project, namely International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) in the Office of the Secretary-General. As of 2005, Mr. Leite held the positions of Chief of the Informatics, Administration and Publications Department and of Deputy-Director of BR. In 2010, Fabio Leite was candidate of Brazil for the elected post of Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

Radiocommunication Conferences From 1980 to 2012, Mr. Leite took part in several ITU Radiocommunication Conferences, either as member of the Brazilian delegation, as ITU staff and Technical Secretary or as Executive Secretary.

Recent positions
Mr. Leite was Senior Advisor to Rohde & Schwarz from 2014 to 2015.Since May 2015, Mr. Leite is Vice President, Global Spectrum Regulatory Policy of Inmarsat.

Agostinho Linhares

Agostinho Linhares

Manager of Spectrum Orbit and Broadcasting Division, ANATEL

 

Agostinho Linhares received his PhD degree in Telecommunications from University of Brasilia in 2015. He joined Anatel in 2005 and has already worked in the Enforcement Division, Spectrum Engineering Division, Board of Directors Advisory and, currently, is Manager of Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting. Before Anatel, he has worked at Petrobras as a Telecommunications Engineer developing projects related to optical communications systems, RF links and IP Networks. He is the Coordinator of the Brazilian Communication Commission - Radiocommunication Sector (CBC-2) and participates in ITU-R and ITU-T Study Groups, being the vice-chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 5 Regional Group for the Americas (SG5 RG-AMR).

Diana Tomimura

Diana Tomimura

Project Manager, Ministry of Communications (Brazil)

 

M.Sc. Degree in Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,
Bachelor in Telecomunications Engineering from the Fluminense Federal University.
Has previously worked for Intelig, Nokia Networks.
Worked for Anatel on Spectrum Planning from 2007 to 2011.
Since then, she works for the Ministry of Communications.
Participates actively in international meetings of CITEL and the ITU-R.

Andre Felipe Seixas Trindade

Andre Felipe Seixas Trindade

Communications Engineer, ABRATEL

 

Bachelor in Communication Systems Engineering from the University of Brasília and specialist in Public Management.

André is the regulatory and government affairs consultant from Abratel - Associação Brasileira de Rádio e Televisão - representing radio and TV broadcasters from Brazil with participation in the Inter-American Telecommunication Comission (CITEL) as part of the Brazilian delegation in subjects related policy, planning and use of the spectrum, the future of television broadcasting and new technologies.

He worked for Claro (planning and network quality - GSM and 3G networks) and started to work in broadcasting area inicially for Record TV Netwotk (Rede Record).

Richard Marsden

Richard Marsden

Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting

 

With a team based in New York City and London, but working around the world, Mr. Marsden’s practice focuses on the design of allocation mechanisms, including:

· auctions and trading design;

· bidding strategy; and

· related competition, pricing, regulatory and public policy.

His work spans multiple industries, including broadcasting, energy, mobile telephony, procurement, radio spectrum and transport.

Many of Mr. Marsden’s recent projects have involved auction design, software implementation and/or bidder support related to the current wave of spectrum awards worldwide. Since 1999, he has provided strategy advice to leading incumbent operators and aspiring entrants in more than 35 spectrum auctions. He was also a lead member of the design team that developed and implemented the combinatorial clock auction, the first practical multi-round package bid format for awarding radio spectrum.

Prior to joining NERA, Mr. Marsden spent 10 years as Director and Managing Consultant at DotEcon, where he was responsible for business development for auctions, public policy, and strategy projects. He managed the project teams supporting the UK regulator Ofcom on digital dividend policy and UK spectrum auctions between 2005 and 2010. He also completed major studies for the European Commission on the allocation of the digital dividend and on spectrum trading and liberalization.

Mr. Marsden presents and publishes frequently on the topics of auctions, the communications industry, and spectrum management and allocation. He is the co-author of a book on broadband regulation (Springer, 2005). He is also an advisor to Forum Global on Spectrum Management conferences in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Fabio Franco  Costa de Alencar

Fabio Franco Costa de Alencar

Vice President, ABRASAT

 

Fabio Franco Costa de Alencar, Brazilian, is an Electronic Engineer and his current position is Business Development Director at Embratel Star One.

With more than 30 years of engineering,managerial, sales and business development experience in Latin America Satellite industry, he has worked at some of the industry leaders including Astrium Services,Comsat and Intelsat.

He has coordinated large projects on the Fixed Satellite Services and Mobile Satellite Services, as well governmental and commercial sectors.

He is also a director at the Brazilian syndicate of Satellite Operators –SINDISAT and the Brazilian Satellite Association - ABRASAT.

Mazen Chmaytelli

Mazen Chmaytelli

Senior Director of Business Development , Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

 

Mazen Chmaytelli serves as Senior Director of Small Cells Business Development for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. In this role, Mazen oversees the continued evolution of Small Cells and LTE-based technology for unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U / LAA / MuLTEfire™) strategy globally.

Mazen has over 20 years of experience across all major wireless telecommunications technologies and a broad range of expertise in areas including business development, business negotiations, product management, new product development and technical marketing.

Prior to this role, Mazen served as head of LTE Broadcast / Multicast (eMBMS) business development and product management for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Mazen has also held several other positions for Qualcomm including product management for mobile devices, EV-DO technical marketing, BREW/uiOne product management and FLO Technologies business development.

Mazen is a registered professional engineer in the State of California, a Senior IEEE member, a registered attorney with the California Bar, and a registered patent attorney with the USPTO. As an inventor, he holds 36 USPTO issued patents covering a range of telecommunications and software designs.

Mazen has a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University Of San Diego School Of Law.

Francisco Giacomini Soares

Francisco Giacomini Soares

Senior Director of Government Affairs, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

 

Francisco Giacomini Soares is Senior Director of Government Affairs at QUALCOMM. He is responsible for government related activities in Brazil and in the Southern Cone Countries.

Among his main activities are spectrum related issues, social responsibility initiatives such as the Wireless Reach, industrial policies, – International Telecommunications Union – ITU and CITEL contributions.

Previously, he worked at the Brazilian Telecommunications Agency – a Anatel, as General Manager for Certification, Spectrum Planning and Engineering, and also as advisor of the president. He has been part of the Brazilian Administration in ITU and CITEL, having chaired working groups related to IMT spectrum in ITU (WP-5D), and terrestrial fixed and mobile radio communications services at CITEL (PCCII). In the Ministry of Communications, he was the General Coordinator for Spectrum planning and Engineering. Francisco holds a Bachelor Degree in Electronic Engineering from the Federal University of Brasília – UnB.

Paulo Ricardo H. Balduino

Paulo Ricardo H. Balduino

Director General, Asociacao Brasileria de Emissoras de Radio e Televisao

 

Paulo Ricardo H. Balduino, Brazilian, with graduation in electronics engineering at the University of Brasilia, is CEO of Synthesis Consulting, which operates in the converging telecom and media environment. Was COO and Co-founder of Spectrum Latin America, in partnership with the European Spectrum Strategy Consultants.
His experience includes the direction of other Brazilian telecommunications companies such as Victori Communications / VICOM (today arm of British Telecom in Brazil) and Teletrim - Paging Services.

Worked long time for the Brazilian Government at the Ministry of Communications when he was in charge of the coordination of activities along the international regulation of the distinct forums of International Telecommunication Union - ITU and Inter-American Telecommunication Commission - CITEL.

He used to head Brazilian delegations at various meetings, conferences and assemblies of the ITU and CITEL on various topics, among which the planning of the use of spectrum for various services.

Currently his consulting activities include the direction of the Department of the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters - ABERT aimed at policy, planning and use of the radio spectrum

Chris Weasler

Chris Weasler

Director of Global Connectivity, Facebook

 

Chris is Facebook’s lead on spectrum policy and connectivity planning and in this role is one of the key stakeholders driving Internet.org’s connectivity strategy. Previously, Chris managed Facebook's partnerships with mobile operators. Prior to Facebook, Chris was VP of Business Development at LightSquared and VP of Global Development and Roaming at Sprint Nextel. During his career he has consulted with start-ups, wireless operators and also provided consultation to the FCC on a host of roaming and spectrum issues. Early in his career, at Palm he helped launch the first wireless PDA, and at OmniSky, Chris led the product and business development for its wireless portal. He has an undergraduate degree from Marquette University and an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School.

Raul Lazacano

Raul Lazacano

Chief of the Legal Divsion, SUBTEL

 

Raul is an Electrical Engineer with specialization in telecommunications from the University of Santiago de Chile (USACH) and has a Master of Applied Economics at the Public Policy Alberto Hurtado University (Chile) and Georgetown University, worked by teams maintenance and operations in companies of Chilean radio and has held advisory work and training in technical telecommunications issues, as well as tasks of teaching, preparing for the world of telecommunications to many young Chileans, it has been developed in recent years in various roles in the Department of Telecommunications (Subtel) and currently serves as Chief of the Division of Regulatory Policy and Studies SUBTEL responsible for the design of regulatory instruments governing the sector, currently in charge, among other matters, from the regulatory point of view, the implementation of the tariff processes for telecommunications companies, the implementation of digital television, the process of complete portability, regulation of OMV and has participated in various regulatory projects are like Neutrality Act Network, the Number Portability Act, developments on Quality of Service, among others, also considering their participation in the development of public tenders to allocate spectrum to the private sector, including the public tender for the allocation of the band 700 MHz.

Christa Leith

Christa Leith

Head, Regulatory & Policy Affairs, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago; & Member, Regulatory Committee,, The Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO)

 

Christa Leith, a Financial Specialist and Risk Manager, is a graduate of the Heriot-Watt University attaining both a Master of Science Degree in Financial Management and a Master of Business Administration Degree in General Management. Prior to these achievements, Ms. Leith earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Business and Finance from the Heriot-Watt University. Ms. Leith also has several certifications in telecommunications and project management. She spent a few years lecturing the Heriot-Watt University Bachelor of Arts Degree and the Association of Business Executives Diploma programmes.

Ms. Leith is the Acting Head, Regulatory & Policy Affairs of the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (“TSTT”), the premier quad-play provider in that country. She is the Programme Manager for the implementation of Number Portability within TSTT and an active participant of the Regulatory and Emerging Technologies Committees of CANTO. Ms. Leith has been working in the telecommunications industry in excess of ten (10) years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience across many areas within telecoms.

Scott McKenzie

Scott McKenzie

Director, Coleago

 

Scott McKenzie is an experienced consultant with over twenty years background in the telecoms and high technology industries. His areas of expertise span: general management, strategic planning, operations, finance and M&A.

Early in his career, he held a variety of engineering and marketing positions with Telstra and Ericsson. After business school, he worked as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little before spending six years as an equity analyst in the City of London with the investment banking divisions of SEB and Société Générale. Upon leaving the City he became Chief Strategy Officer for the international mobile division of the Dutch telecom operator Royal KPN, where he was also CEO of the mobile wholesale business unit. He joined Coleago Consulting in 2009.

Scott spent many of his formative years in Australia and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Melbourne University. He also holds an MBA degree from the Saïd Business School at Oxford University.

Josef Svrcek

Josef Svrcek

CEO, Specure

 

Since 2001, Jozef Svrcek worked as IT manager and IT consultant at several global corporations, for example Bayer Schering, Deloitte and Red Bull. Since 2012 he participated at several spectrum auctions in central Europe as a project manager.
- Vendor's project manager in the recent auction of radio frequencies in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands in Czech Republic (2012-2013, 2015)
- SPECURE / alladin-IT GmbH, Vienna (Austria):
Senior Consultant, project management - spectrum auctions, auction theory, consulting
- Red Bull, Fuschl am See (Austria):
Project manager, project portfolio management, vendor management
- Bayer Business Services, Leverkusen (Germany):
Project manager, managing international projects, change management (2006-2007)
- Schering AG (now Bayer Pharma AG), Berlin (Germany):
IT analyst, Lotus Domino and Lotus Notes administration, application support, incident, problem and change management, project management (2001-2006)

H Nwana

H Nwana

Executive Director, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance

 

As Executive Director of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, H Nwana assists with the development and execution of the organization’s strategic initiatives and outreach to and recruitment of potential partners and members across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

Prior to this, Nwana was Group Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom, where he ran UK’s Spectrum Policy and spearheaded UK’s dynamic spectrum management activities, specifically focusing on TV White Spaces for broadband and other applications. Before this, Nwana was MD at Arqiva and earlier in his career he worked at Quadriga Worldwide Ltd and was instrumental in the introduction of digital technology and services to the hospitality industry across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Graham Johnson

Graham Johnson

Partner, Aetha Consulting

 

Graham Johnson is a Partner at Aetha Consulting, which he helped found in 2011. At Aetha he has led projects for fixed and mobile telecommunications clients on the subjects of network costs, regulation and wholesale pricing. He has carried out case studies on: how various countries have approached awarding the 700MHz/800MHz spectrum band for mobile broadband; modelling the use of LTE for fixed broadband communications; and a detailed investigation into national roaming. Before joining Aetha Graham worked at Analysys Mason (a specialist telecoms strategy consultancy), where he worked on licence bids, next generation networks, market reviews, fair market valuations and regulatory audits. In 1998 he opened their office in Madrid which he led for 12 years.

Ven Sampath

Ven Sampath

Director, Regulatory Affairs & Standard Policy, Ericsson

 

Venkatesh Sampath joined Ericsson Canada in January 2008, and is currently working as the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Standards Policy. In this role, Mr. Sampath has the dual responsibility of coordinating Government and Industry Relations (GIR) and carrying out technology and standardization activities related to present and future mobile wireless networks. Mr. Sampath works closely with Industry Canada and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on spectrum and technology matters. He is the Chair of the Canadian Evaluation Group and is a Canadian delegate to the ITU.

Prior to Ericsson, Mr. Sampath worked as a private consultant from 2003-2007 for various companies both in the United States (Nexius, Nextel, Flarion Technologies) and Canada (Oz Communications, Trio Capital) in a mainly technology capacity such as the testing of base-station and user equipment to get the CE mark, laboratory and field testing of Flash-OFDM networks.

Between 1996 and 2002, Mr. Sampath was with Microcell Telecommunications, where he was Director of the R&D/Standardization group.

Mr. Sampath holds an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering – both from Université Laval (Québec city). He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Luis Lara

Luis Lara

Director, Government Affairs, Spectrum and Regulation LATAM, Motorola Solutions

 

He is a Communications and Electronics Engineer by the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico (IPN) with Diploma in Telecommunications from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

He joined Motorola in 2000, after having collaborated in telecommunication companies, the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT) and the Federal Telecommunications Commission of Mexico (COFETEL), which is now the Federal Telecommunications Institute.
He has worked and led efforts in the design and implementation of strategies in standardization, regulation, policy spectrum and businesses enabling. He has also spoken at various national and international forums and has lectured on planning and regulation of frequencies and mission critical communications.

With an experience of over 20 years in the radiocommunications sector, he has participated in the latest five World Radiocommunication Conferences of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is an active participant in ITU Study Groups as well as in the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL), where he is responsible of the coordination to determine the CITEL common position at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) in regards to broadband spectrum for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR).

Jose Luis Ayala

Jose Luis Ayala

Head of Government and Industry Relations, Latin America, Ericsson

 

Mr. Ayala joined Ericsson USA in the year 2000, and transferred to Ericsson Latin America in 2002, where, he developed his career in the areas of Sales, Engineering and Business Development.

Since 2010, Mr. Ayala is responsible for leading Ericsson strategy regarding Telecom policies which favor the mass adoption of broadband services in the Latin American region. In his role, Mr. Ayala has supported several Governments across the region in areas of Telecom policies, spectrum management, national ICT plans and, mobile broadband strategies.

Prior to joining Ericsson, Mr. Ayala built a solid career in leading Telecom Operators based in Central America, United States, and Spain.

A national of El Salvador, Mr. Ayala is a Telecommunications engineer with over twenty years of experience in the industry, and has strong background in areas of Mobile and Fixed Broadband, IMS Softswitch, IP, and Transport systems.

Mr. Ayala holds a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology University, under a Fullbright Scholarship.

In addition, he received a fellowship from Hispano-American Telecom Association AHCIET, and resided in Madrid, Spain.

Martha Suarez

Martha Suarez

Acting Director General, ANE

 

Speaker Biography to appear here shortly

Augusto De Albuquerque

Augusto De Albuquerque

Counsellor for information Society and Media, Delegation of the European Union to Brazil

 

Augusto A. de Albuquerque is Minister-Counsellor, Head of the Information Society and Multimedia Sector in the EU delegation in Brasilia.
He was Counsellor to the Director General of DG CONNECT (Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and Head of the Task Force on Sector Strategy (2011-2012).
In the period 2005-2011 he was Head of the Micro Systems unit in the Information Society and Media DG of the European Commission. His unit was also in charge of the coordination of the ICT part of two new Public Private Partnerships of the European Recovery Plan: Factory of the Future and Green Car (ICT for the Fully Electric Vehicle).
In 1989 he joined the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. He was Head of several units coordinating research in Fixed and Mobile Networks and Services for Integrated Broadband Communications. He coordinated the research that led to the development of multimedia standards in MPEG and DVB and standards for fixed and mobile broadband Internet.
He is a Senior Member of IEEE. He was an Associate Professor in Lisbon Technical University and is a Professor in ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute

Cristina Gavazza

Cristina Gavazza

Innovation and Partnerships Master Specialist, TIM Brasil

 

Cristina Zornoff Gavazza has been working in the telecom sector for the past 16 years, and holds a BA and a master degree in production engineering. She worked four years with regulatory strategy and since 2011 has actively participated in the company´s task force for acquiring new spectrum, including the last two auctions for the 2.5GHz and 700 MHz band for LTE deployment. Today she’s a specialist in Innovation & Partnerships, responsible for conducting the negotiations of specific technology disruptive agreements including RAN (Radio Access Network) sharing.

JD Fouchard

JD Fouchard

CEO, AINMT Holdings

 

Fouchard is the CEO of AINMT, a position he assumed in June 2011. He was previously a member of Access Industries’ Media and Communications team. He played a leading role in the acquisition of the AINMT group by Access Industries and has been a board member/director since the acquisition in 2009. He is also an alternate director of Perform Group plc and of RGE Group Limited.
Mr. Fouchard joined Access in June 2007 from UBS’s Telecom Investment Banking Group where he worked on numerous transactions involving Vodafone.
Prior to UBS, Mr. Fouchard was with Morgan Stanley Capital Partners where he was an Analyst within the European Leverage Buyout Group, a USD 3.3 billion fund.
He is a dual Haitian/Swiss national fluent in French, English, Spanish, German and Creole. He is a graduate of ESCP-EAP European School of Management and Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg Germany.
JD is a director of AINMT Holdings AB, AINMT Scandinavia Holdings AS, Ice Communciation Norge AS, Ice Norge AS, Netett Sverige AB, Ice Danmark ApS and AINMT Scandinavia Holdings AB

Ricardo Castro

Ricardo Castro

Partner, Catalitica

 

Speaker biography to appear here shortly...

Tim  Miller

Tim Miller

Partner, Plum Consulting

 

Tim has over fourteen years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He specialises in the application of economics to regulatory and competition issues, and the analysis of markets and company interactions. Tim’s work has been used in the context of spectrum strategy, regulatory price cap models, top-down and bottom-up cost models for regulatory and business purposes, spectrum awards and bidding behaviour, financial disputes, and demand forecasting. He has advised operators, regulators, government and industry bodies across the world on the potential uses of spectrum and resulting benefits, how to determine the optimal use of spectrum, and regulatory road maps for achieving this.

Over the past few years he has worked in Egypt, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Turkey, assisting regulators with lessons that can be learnt from other countries around the world and helping set out regulatory objectives, as well as assisting operators with understanding the commercial economics of the industry.

Gerson Souto

Gerson Souto

Global Spectrum and Regulatory Policy, , ESOA

 


Mr. Souto is responsible for Corporate Development (Strategy, M&A), Business Development and investigating new ventures outside the core FSS business (Product Diversification), as well as Spectrum Management & Development and providing a single view on a global satellite fleet via an integrated Fleet Development & Yield Management function. He served as the Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President of Commercial Services at SES World Skies, Inc. He served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Services at SES NEW SKIES since December 10, 2007. He served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Services - New Skies at SES AMERICOM, Inc. since March 2009. He joined SES in 1998 and SES NEW SKIES in 2007. He worked at Intelsat. He served as an Engineer at Embratel, a Brazilian telecommunications long distance carrier. He serves as a Director of O3b Networks Limited and Solaris Mobile. Mr. Souto holds an MBA from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., an MA in Telecommunication Systems from the Pontifical Catholic University in Brazil, and a Bachelor's Degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the Federal Fluminense University in Brazil.
Mr Souto is active member of ESOA (EMEA Satellite Operators Association) ITU and Regulatory working groups.

Robert Thelen-Bartholomew

Robert Thelen-Bartholomew

COO, LS telcom Inc

 

Business Development, LS telcom AG.

Robert currently works with LS telcom AG, a German company which delivers spectrum management solutions, consultancy, and hardware solutions to over 90 regulators and operators worldwide. Robert coordinates LS telcoms’ project as one of the FCC approved whitespace database administrators in the USA and on whitespace projects and strategy throughout the world. Robert was a former director at Ofcom, the spectrum and media regulator in the United Kingdom, responsible for spectrum interference investigation, enforcement, spectrum monitoring, and regulatory compliance. After leaving Ofcom Robert established his own consultancy company, Erkmar Ltd., which has worked with regulators and manufacturers worldwide in developing regulatory policy, marketing policy for spectrum related services, strategy development, market access, product development, and senior management consultancy support. Robert has an MBA and is based in the United Kingdom.

Jacqueline  Lopes

Jacqueline Lopes

Institutional Relations Supervisor for Latin America, Samsung Electronics

 

As the Supervisor of Institutional Relations at Samsung, Jacqueline is responsible for government affairs in Latin America. She represents Samsung in the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL).

Previously, she worked at the Federation of the Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), as Coordinator of Trade Remedies and Trade Facilitation, and prior to that at ABN AMRO Bank and a law firm.

Jacqueline has a bachelor’s degree in Law at the University of São Paulo (USP). She also holds a master degree in International and Comparative Law at the University of São Paulo (USP) and a certificate of mastering trade policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Catherine Bohill

Catherine Bohill

Directora, Telefonica

 

As Director of the Spectrum Centre of Excellence in Telefonica, Catherine’s mandate is to seek innovative approaches and best practices for Spectrum optimization and acquisitions. The group she leads is charged with valuating spectrum opportunities and preparing for upcoming auction processes. She looks forward to contributing to Session 6 on that very topic.

With 21 years of experience in the Telco World, Catherine has spent 14 of those with Telefonica in M&A and more recently leading the wholesale team in Latam. Before joining Telefonica, she worked for DaimlerChrysler & Nortel in Germany, the World Bank in Washington DC and also spend a fascinating gap year lecturing in the University of Havana. Catherine has a BA in European Business and a Diplom Betriebswirt (FH) from the European Business School (FH Reutlingen) and a Masters in Finance from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid.

Catherine is an Irish national and a firm believer of only applying spectrum caps in selective cases. That said, with 3 young boys in her household, Catherine is quite sure that caps can apply at home.

Ximena Barberena Nisimblat

Ximena Barberena Nisimblat

Vice President Legal, AVANTEL

 

Lawyer, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. 15-year career in the telecommunications sector, initially in the Ministry of Communications (now Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies) and in the last 10 years as Legal Vice President of Avantel.

Ricardo  Casteneda Alvarez

Ricardo Casteneda Alvarez

Director General of Engineering and Technical Studies, IFT

 

Ricardo Castañeda is the General Director of Spectrum Engineering in The Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, the Mexican telecommunications regulator. Mr. Castañeda is a telecom and electronics engineer, with specialization in telecommunications by The Instituto Politécnico Nacional and have several studies regarding spectrum technologies, regulation and telecom public policies.
Mr. Castañeda have more than 15 years of experience in telecoms sector, playing different roles and responsibilities in the private and public sectors. He is specialized in spectrum regulation, as well as spectrum planning, engineering and optimization.
As part of the Mexican telecommunications regulator, Mr. Castañeda has participated in the development of numerous public policies, technical rules and studies related with the use, planning, and regulation of spectrum in Mexico.

In international matters, has represented Mexico in several conferences and meetings. Collaborates actively in specialized organisms like ITU, CITEL and in bilateral Mexico – USA authorities’ workgroups for spectrum sharing in the border zone with United States.

Moderator

Elena Scaramuzzi

Elena Scaramuzzi

Principal Analyst, Cullen International

 

Elena Scaramuzzi joined Cullen International in 2009. At Cullen Elena’s activities are focused on telecommunications and media regulatory research in Latin America and Europe. Before joining Cullen International Elena worked at the international regulatory dept. of Telecom Italia, and prior to that at the World Bank in Washington DC. Elena has a degree in Political Science from LUISS University, Rome.

Cullen International provides a unique range of regulatory services on telecommunications, media, electronic commerce and postal services.

Graham Johnson

Graham Johnson

Partner, Aetha Consulting

 

Graham Johnson is a Partner at Aetha Consulting, which he helped found in 2011. At Aetha he has led projects for fixed and mobile telecommunications clients on the subjects of network costs, regulation and wholesale pricing. He has carried out case studies on how various countries have approached awarding the 700MHz/800MHz spectrum band for mobile broadband, and presentations on the use of LTE for fixed broadband communications. Before joining Aetha Graham worked at Analysys Mason (a specialist telecoms strategy consultancy), where he worked on licence bids, next generation networks, market reviews, fair market valuations and regulatory audits. In 1998 he opened the company’s office in Madrid which he led for 12 years.

Agostinho Linhares

Agostinho Linhares

Manager of Spectrum Orbit and Broadcasting Division, ANATEL

 

Agostinho Linhares received his PhD degree in Telecommunications from University of Brasilia in 2015. He joined Anatel in 2005 and has already worked in the Enforcement Division, Spectrum Engineering Division, Board of Directors Advisory and, currently, is Manager of Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting. Before Anatel, he has worked at Petrobras as a Telecommunications Engineer developing projects related to optical communications systems, RF links and IP Networks. He is the Coordinator of the Brazilian Communication Commission - Radiocommunication Sector (CBC-2) and participates in ITU-R and ITU-T Study Groups, being the vice-chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 5 Regional Group for the Americas (SG5 RG-AMR).

Ricardo Castro

Ricardo Castro

Partner, Catalitica

 

Ricardo Castro is managing partner at Catalitica, a strategy consulting firm based in São Paulo, Brazil. He serves a broad variety of clients in top level assignments, notably in regulated industries such as telecom, energy and sanitation.

As a consultant in the telecom market, Ricardo worked in the post-privatization integration of fixed telephony operators, in the market launch of a large GSM operation and in the PMO of the number portability implementation in a major mobile player, among other projects.

Before founding Catalitica, Ricardo worked with international consulting firms Booz Allen & Hamilton and DiamondCluster, as well as local strategy boutiques. Outside of consulting, he led the business development area of Ultragaz, the leading LPG distributor in Brazil.

Ricardo has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas -- Unicamp, in Brazil. He also holds an MBA in Finance and Economics from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, in the US.

Ivar A H Hartmann

Ivar A H Hartmann

Professor/Research Project Coordinator, FGV Brazil

 

Ivar Hartmann is a Professor at FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro, where he has taught Cyberlaw, Programming for Lawyers, Research Methodology and Theory of Justice. He coordinates the "Supreme Court in Numbers" project, which employs computer science to empirical legal research in order to produce data on tens of millions of lawsuits from different Brazilian courts. Ivar holds an MsC from the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He is an S.J.D. candidate at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.

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